First in a series on improving your content marketing strategy for your business.

1. The Social Media Hat
Mike Allton
2013 Focus Series
Creating Great Content

2. For
most
small
business
owners,
one
of
the
more
challenging
aspects
of
their
website
project
will
be
to
write
about
their
business.
Though
it
might
seem
easy
to
talk
about
yourself,
most
owners
are
intimidated
by
the
pressure
of
having
to
write
“great”
content
that
will
be
seen
by
many
potential
customers.
While
there
are
many
different
kinds
of
content,
including
blogs,
articles
and
press
releases,
this
article
is
going
to
focus
on
the
pages
of
your
website.
It
will
take
time,
but
if
you
follow
our
process
for
writing
copy,
the
end
result
will
be
text
for
your
website
that
will
be
an
effective
tool
for
converting
casual
visitors
into
buying
customers.
The
Plan
First,
you
need
a
plan.
Start
by
creating
a
map
for
yourself
in
the
form
of
a
site
outline.
A
typical
outline
might
look
like
this:
• Home
• About
o Team
o Experience
• Services
o Service
A
o Service
B
• Contact
Your
outline
needs
to
be
unique
and
customized
for
you
and
your
business,
but
it
also
needs
to
make
sense.
The
top-­‐level
bullets
(i.e.
Home,
About,
Services,
Contact)
will
typically
end
up
as
your
main
menu
items
on
your
website,
while
sub-­‐bullets
(i.e.
Service
A,
Service
B)
will
be
submenu
items.
There
is
no
limit
to
the
number
of
items
you
can
put
into
your
outline,
as
long
as
it
makes
sense
to
do
so.
Always
keep
in
mind
that
what
you’re
creating
needs
to
be
understood
by
your
site
visitors.
For
instance,
if
you
have
a
Services
top-­‐
level
item,
it
makes
sense
to
have
all
services
listed
within
it
as
separate
pages,
and
not
some
speciPic
services
also
listed
as
a
top-­‐level
item.
If
you
have
a
speciPic
service
or
aspect
that
you
wish
to
call
out,
there
are
other
ways
to
do
that
through
the
use
of
sidebars,
graphics,
slideshows,
and
so
on.
The
Pages
Once
you
have
your
outline
set,
you’ll
know
what
pages
you
need
to
write
text
for.
You
can
start
at
the
top
and
work
your
way
down,
or
start
with
whatever
page
you
think
you
have
the
most
material
to
work
with
–
wherever
you
feel
comfortable
starting,
so
long
as
you
start.
I
recommend
creating
a
Word
document
for
each
individual
page.
Make
sure
you
save
it
and
save
it
often
so
you
don’t
lose
any
work.
Save
it
with
a
meaningful
name,
and
keep
all
your
documents
in
a
speciPic
folder.
If
you
have
speciPic
images
you
want
to
incorporate
onto
speciPic
pages,
insert
them
into
the
the

3. Word
document
where
you
want
them,
but
also
include
the
image
Pile
in
the
folder
with
the
document
for
your
developer
to
use.
If
you
are
able
to
simply
start
typing
and
can
write
whatever
page
you’re
working
on,
great!
Carry
on.
If
you’re
stuck
though,
or
don’t
know
where
to
begin,
here
are
some
suggestions.
First,
start
by
typing
whatever
comes
to
mind.
It
doesn’t
matter
if
it’s
complete
sentences
–
don’t
worry
about
grammar
or
spelling
initially.
Just
get
your
ideas
down
in
front
of
you.
For
this
particular
page
of
your
site,
what
would
your
customers
want
to
read?
If
you
were
a
client,
what
would
you
be
looking
for?
Pretend
that
a
client
stopped
you
on
the
street
or
called
you
and
asked
you
to
talk
about
this
particular
subject
for
a
while.
What
would
you
say?
Include
facts
and
statistics.
We
don’t
want
to
be
overwhelmed
with
statistics,
but
if
we
can
read
something
veriPiable
about
a
business,
that
helps
reinforce
what
we’re
being
told.
If
appropriate
and
possible,
include
nice
images
of
charts
and
graphs.
It’s
OK
to
use
terms
and
jargon,
as
long
as
you
dePine
them.
The
Drupal
websites
that
we
build
can
include
an
automated
Glossary
that
will
integrate
with
your
content,
or,
you
can
simply
dePine
a
term
in
parentheses
or
as
part
of
your
explanation.
Once
you’ve
gotten
some
ideas
down,
try
to
organize
them
a
bit.
Start
the
page
off
with
a
statement
or
question
that
will
interest
the
reader,
and
then
proceed
from
there.
Do
not
be
afraid
to
write
too
much
–
elaborate
on
your
points
whenever
possible.
You
can
also
use
bullets
and
numbers
to
list
or
highlight
points,
but
don’t
use
too
many.
You
should
also
break
your
page
up
into
sections
and
insert
a
section
title,
like
I
have
above.
This
helps
keep
your
ideas
organized
and
focused,
and
helps
readers
understand
where
you’re
going.
It’s
OK
if
you
end
up
with
a
long
page
of
text.
In
fact,
that’s
great!
The
more
text
you
have,
the
better
your
site
will
rank
with
search
engines
and
the
more
informed
your
readers
would
be.
You’ll
want
to
talk
to
your
web
developer
about
adding
a
brief
list
of
sections,
like
a
table
of
contents,
at
the
top
so
that
readers
can
skip
to
a
speciPic
section
if
they
want.
Breaking
the
content
up
into
multiple
pages
with
Previous
and
Next
buttons
may
also
be
a
possibility.
Once
you’ve
Pinished
a
page,
read
it
through
in
its
entirety.
Share
it
with
others
to
read.
Make
sure
that
it’s
understandable,
organized,
grammatically
correct
and
completely
error-­‐free.
Do
not
hesitate
to
revise
it
as
often
as
needed.
You
should
also
make
an
effort
to
review
and
revise
pages
on
your
Live
website
regularly
as
information
changes
over
time,
and
you
may
have
additional
information
that
you
can
add
and
share.

4. The
Push
When
writing,
here
are
some
additional
things
to
keep
in
mind
in
order
to
make
your
copy
even
more
effective.
What’s
In
It
For
Me?
Always
remember
your
target
audience
and
write
to
them.
Why
should
they
be
interested
in
you?
What
benePits
can
you
offer?
What
problems
can
you
solve?
What
Do
I
Do
Next?
Always
include
directions
in
your
writing.
If
someone
is
interested
in
you
or
what
you’re
saying,
make
it
as
easy
as
possible
for
them
to
take
the
next
step,
whatever
that
step
might
be,
by
helping
them
out.
Maybe
it’s
as
simple
as
saying,
“Give
us
a
call
for
more
information”
or
directing
them
to
a
form
or
contact
page.
Whatever
it
is,
make
it
clear
for
a
visitor
how
to
take
action.
Who
Are
You?
Chances
are,
visitors
to
your
website
have
never
heard
of
you.
This
is
your
chance
to
tell
them
who
you
are
and,
more
importantly,
what
they
can
expect
from
you.
This
should
not
be
limited
to
just
your
“About”
page,
though
that’s
a
great
place
to
elaborate
on
your
experience
and
expertise
and
history.
Throughout
your
site,
you
need
to
reinforce
the
idea
that
you’re
an
expert
and
that
you
can
be
trusted.
One
of
your
goals
should
always
be
to
get
visitors
to
“know,
like
and
trust
you.”
Including
personal,
but
important
information,
is
a
great
way
to
accomplish
that.
Who
Are
You
Targeting?
If
you
haven’t
already,
you
should
start
a
conversation
with
your
developer
about
“keywords.”
It’s
important
that
you
decide
what
keywords
and
phrases
you’re
going
to
target,
and
your
developer
should
be
able
to
help
you
through
that
process.
Your
keywords
should
rePlect
the
customers
or
businesses
you
want
to
target
–
these
should
be
the
phrases
that
a
potential
customer
would
put
into
a
search
engine.
In
order
for
your
site
to
come
up,
those
phrases
should
appear
within
your
site.
So,
now
that
you
have
some
basic
text
in
place,
it’s
time
to
revise
and
expand
it
based
on
your
chosen
keywords.
Replace
existing
words
and
phrases
with
your
targeted
keywords
wherever
possible.
Do
you
have
speciPic
pages
devoted
to
each
keyword?
You
should!
Don’t
be
afraid
to
add
more
pages
or
revise
your
outline
in
order
to
maximize
your
keyword
usage.

5. The
Payoff
If
you’ve
gone
through
all
of
the
above
steps,
you
should
have
an
extremely
effective
collection
of
pages
for
your
new
website.
Writing
copy
for
your
site
should
never
be
a
project
that
you
do
just
once
–
you
should
regularly
revise
pages
and
add
new
content.
The
more
often
you
write,
the
easier
it
will
get,
and
you
will
be
rewarded
for
your
efforts.
Your
site’s
search
engine
rankings
will
improve
and
you’ll
get
more
trafPic
to
your
site.
More
of
your
visitors
will
become
interested
in
you
and
willing
to
hire
you,
or
take
whatever
action
you
stipulated
in
your
content,
and
your
revenues
will
improve.
The Social Media Hat
http://www.TheSocialMediaHat.com